A European multicentre survey of impulse control behaviours in Parkinson's disease patients treated with short- and long-acting dopamine agonists

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Impulse control disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are associated primarily with dopamine agonist (DA) use. Comparative surveys of clinical occurrence of impulse control behaviours on longer acting/transdermal DA therapy across age ranges are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of ICDs in PD patients across several European centres treated with short- or long-acting [ropinirole (ROP); pramipexole (PPX)] and transdermal [rotigotine skin patch (RTG)] DAs, based on clinical survey as part of routine clinical care.

METHODS: A survey based on medical records and clinical interviews of patients initiating or initiated on DA treatment (both short- and long-acting, and transdermal) across a broad range of disease stages and age groups was performed.

RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-five cases were included [mean age 68.3 years (range 37-90), mean duration of disease 7.5 years (range 0-37)]. ICD frequencies (as assessed by clinical interview) were significantly lower with RTG (4.9%; P < 0.05) compared with any other assessed DAs except for prolonged release PPX (PPX-PR). The rate of ICDs for PPX-PR (6.6%) was significantly lower than for immediate release PPX (PPX-IR) (19.0%; P < 0.05). Discontinuation rates of DA therapy due to ICDs were low.

CONCLUSION: Our data suggest a relatively low rate of ICDs with long-acting or transdermal DAs, however these preliminary observational data need to be confirmed with prospective studies controlling for possible confounding factors.